Is Thumbtack worth it for contractors? The lead math, Thumbtack vs Angi, and what to build instead

How Thumbtack charges pros

Creating a Thumbtack pro profile is free and there is no monthly subscription. You pay for leads. Thumbtack's help center describes two settings that control what you spend: your lead prices, which are the amount you pay per lead, and your budget, the most you will spend in a week across all your services.

• Matched leads: when a customer's request fits your job preferences, the lead is matched to you and charged. Your job types, service area and preferences decide what you pay for.
• Opportunities: jobs you can choose to reach out to. Thumbtack says you are charged only if you reach out and the customer responds, and these do not use your weekly budget.
• Weekly budget: once you pass it, new leads stop until it resets the following week. Thumbtack notes a single lead can push you slightly over the budget, within a cap.

Thumbtack does not publish a single price list. Prices vary by trade, job type, location and competition. Pros report paying anywhere from about $10 to over $100 per lead. The only number that matters is the one in your own account, so check the lead prices shown in your settings for each service you offer.

What Thumbtack refunds

Thumbtack's refund policy for pros covers specific problems: a disconnected or invalid phone number, a duplicate request from the same customer for the same job within 45 days, and leads that break its terms of use or look suspicious. You request a refund within 45 days of the charge, and approved refunds go back to your Thumbtack balance for future leads. Request one every time a lead qualifies. Small credits add up over a year.

Thumbtack vs Angi: how they differ

Both are marketplaces where homeowners describe a job and pros pay to reach them. The mechanics differ, and so does how much control you have over spend.

Angi has also said its win rates have been improving. On its second quarter 2025 earnings call, management said win rates on its core pro platform were over 20% in June, which is closer to 1 in 5. Either way, the shape is the same: several pros pay to compete for one homeowner, and whoever answers first and sounds most sure usually wins.

The math: cost per won job

Divide what you spent on a channel by the jobs it actually produced. That is your cost per won job. The table below uses example numbers, not Thumbtack or Angi averages.

Notice that the cheapest leads are not the cheapest jobs. In this example, a $25 lead you rarely win costs more per job than a $40 lead you win one time in five.

Is it worth it for your trade?

Now compare cost per won job with the gross profit on the job. Say a drain clearing averages a $275 ticket with about $165 of gross profit after labor and materials. A $200 cost per won job loses money on that call unless the customer comes back. Say a water heater replacement averages $2,800 with about $1,100 of gross profit. The same $200 is easy to carry. These are example figures; plug in your own from your field-service software.

1. Pull last month's total Thumbtack spend from your account.
2. Count the jobs you actually completed from Thumbtack leads. Tag lead source on every job so this takes minutes.
3. Divide spend by completed jobs.
4. Compare with average gross profit per job, by service type. Turn off the services where cost per won job eats the margin.

Who Thumbtack works for

• New businesses with few reviews and no search presence yet. A marketplace can fill the calendar while you build your own channels. If you are just starting, see how to start a plumbing business.
• Shops that respond in minutes. Shared leads reward speed. If you can reply while the homeowner is still on their phone, your win rate goes up.
• Higher-ticket job types, where one won job covers many lost leads.
• Pros in slower seasons who want to top up volume and can switch spend on and off with the weekly budget.

It tends to work poorly for shops that cannot answer quickly during the day, for low-ticket services with thin margins, and for anyone who never measures cost per won job.

Owned alternatives: Google Business Profile and Local Services Ads

Marketplace leads stop the day you stop paying, and the customer relationship starts on someone else's platform. Owned channels keep working and get cheaper as they mature.

A complete, active Google Business Profile with steady reviews is the highest-return owned channel for most local shops. Our guide on how to get more Google reviews covers the review side. Local Services Ads also charge per lead, but the lead goes to you alone and you can dispute invalid ones. For search ads and pages, see Google Ads for plumbers and SEO for plumbers.

Where Fullweek fits

Every lead channel, marketplace or owned, depends on answering fast. Fullweek answers missed and after-hours calls, triages emergencies, filters spam and fake leads, and books jobs into ServiceTitan, Housecall Pro or Jobber in English and Spanish. On the Growth plan we also manage your Google Business Profile, Local Services Ads and Google Search ads, and send a monthly cost-per-booked-job report so you can compare channels on the same number. See pricing or request a free city audit.